Psychotic diseases such as anxiety and neurosis have increased in recent years, and various antidepressant medications are now available. A number of studies have demonstrated that the newer antidepressant agents, such as venlafaxine (norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor), and bupropion (norepinephrine/dopamine reuptake inhibitor), exert their actions through an interaction with multiple receptors within the central nervous system.
“Yuan Zhi” (the roots of Polygala tenuifolia Willd, Polygalaceae) is an important herb prescribed in the traditional Chinese medicine to mediate sedative, antipsychotic, cognitive improving, neuron protective, and anti-inflammatory therapeutic effects on the central nervous system. It has also been used for insomnia, neurasthenia, amnesia, palpitations with anxiety, restlessness, disorientation, and to prevent dementia and failure of memory. Various xanthones, saponins, and oligosaccharide esters have been reported from this plant. [Fujita, T.; Liu, D. Y.; Ueda, S.; Takeda, Y. Phytochemistry 1992, 31, 3997-4000; Ikeya, Y.; Sugama, K.; Okada, M.; Mitsuhashi, H. Phytochemistry 1991, 30, 2061-2065; Ikeya, Y.; Sugama, K.; Okada, M.; Mitsuhashi, H. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1991, 39, 2600-2605; Miyase, T.; Iwata, Y.; Ueno, A. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1991, 39, 3082-3084; Jiang, Y.; Tu, P. F. Phytochemistry 2002, 60, 813-816; Sakuma, S.; Shojji, J. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1981, 30, 810-821; Jiang, Y.; Tu, P. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 2005, 53, 1164-1166; Jiang, Y.; Tu, P. J. Asian Nat. Prod. Res. 2003, 5, 279-283; Jiang, Y.; Zhang, W.; Tu, P. Xu, X. J. Nat. Prod. 2005, 68, 875-879.]
GB2383951A discloses an anti-depression pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of an active ingredient, in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or diluent for the active ingredient, in which the active ingredient is i) a polar solvent extract of Polygala, the polar solvent being water or a mixture of water and methanol or ethanol; ii) an aqueous fraction resulting from an extraction of the polar solvent extract with an organic solvent; iii) an organic eluate by introducing the polar solvent extract or the aqueous fraction into a reverse phase chromatography column, and eluting the column with water and an organic solvent; or iv) a filtrate having a molecular mass less than 30000 Dalton in the organic eluate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,642,235 discloses methods and compositions for treating humans suffering from, or preventing a human from suffering, a physiological or psychiatric disease, disorder, or a condition where inhibiting reuptake of norepinephrine is a benefit. The physiological or psychiatric disease, disorder, or condition is selected from the group consisting of addictive disorders (including those due to alcohol, nicotine, and other psychoactive substances) and withdrawal syndrome, adjustment disorders (including depressed mood, anxiety, mixed anxiety and depressed mood, disturbance of conduct, and mixed disturbance of conduct and mood), age-associated learning and mental disorders (including Alzheimer's disease), anorexia nervosa, apathy, attention-deficit (or other cognitive) disorders due to general medical conditions, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, bulimia nervosa, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic or acute stress, chronic pain, conduct disorder, cyclothymic disorder, depression (including adolescent depression and minor depression), dysthymic disorder, fibromyalgia and other somatoform disorders (including somatization disorder, conversion disorder, pain disorder, hypochondriasis, body dysmorphic disorder, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, and somatoform NOS), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), incontinence (i.e., stress incontinence, genuine stress incontinence, and mixed incontinence), inhalation disorders, intoxication disorders (alcohol addiction), mania, migraine headaches, obesity (i.e., reducing the weight of obese or overweight patients), obsessive compulsive disorders and related spectrum disorders, oppositional defiant disorder, panic disorder, peripheral neuropathy, post-traumatic stress disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (i.e., premenstrual syndrome and late luteal phase dysphoric disorder), psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia, schizoaffective and schizophreniform disorders), seasonal affective disorder, sleep disorders (such as narcolepsy and enuresis), social phobia (including social anxiety disorder), specific developmental disorders, selective serotonin reuptake inhibition (SSRI) “poop out” syndrome (i.e., wherein a patient who fails to maintain a satisfactory response to SSRI therapy after an initial period of satisfactory response), and TIC disorders (e.g., Tourette's Disease).